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The soft and fluffy residents of Sesame Street
will soon speak in Hindi to engage Indian children with local stories.
The long-running children's educational show featuring colourful
puppets is to have an Indian adaptation.
Aired in over 120 countries and with more than 20 local versions,
Sesame Street helps teach pre-schoolers numbers and words using cartoons
and puppets.
The show has different educational storylines and characters around the
world, to reflect issues affecting children in specific countries.
The New York-based Sesame Workshop, a non-profit educational group, has
sent its people to India to talk to teachers, broadcasters, government
agencies and non-governmental organisations about how to develop the
Indian adaptation of the show.
The United States Agency for International Development (USaid) has
given a grant of $500,000 to Sesame Workshop to design and develop the
Indian version.
"We will create local Indian Muppets. They will be characters that will
engage Indian children and whom they will be able to relate to.
"We will need to work with local experts to explore the look and
personalities of these characters," Beatrice Chow, a spokesperson at
Sesame Workshop said.
The producers of the show for India are looking at developing
characters which will highlight pressing local issues.
"Some of these issues are education of the girl child, ethnic
differences, health and hygiene. So the Muppets for the Indian version
could be multi-dimensional, encompassing many issues," says the show's
project director for India, Isheeta Ganguly.
International versions of Sesame Street are given their own Muppets to
reflect local issues.
In the Egyptian adaptation, girl Muppet Khokhawants to be an astronaut
or a doctor and serves as a female role model.
The South African version of the popular children's TV series has an
HIV-positive character called Kami to encourage acceptance of people
living with the virus.
"Its one of our strongest shows," says Rajen Soni, who markets the
network beaming Sesame Street in India.
"Lots of pre-schoolers
wake up early to catch the show at 7.30 am."
(Agencies)
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“芝麻街”中那些軟軟的、毛絨絨的居民很快就會(huì)操著印度語(yǔ)，給印度的孩子們講述當(dāng)?shù)氐墓适铝恕?/P>
這個(gè)經(jīng)久不衰的兒童教育節(jié)目以多彩的玩偶表演為特色。它將會(huì)為印度兒童制作一個(gè)適合他們的版本。
“芝麻街”在120多個(gè)國(guó)家播出，有20多個(gè)地方版本。它借助卡通和玩偶幫助學(xué)齡前兒童學(xué)習(xí)數(shù)字和單詞。
這個(gè)教育節(jié)目在世界各地采用不同的故事情節(jié)和人物形象，體現(xiàn)了在特定的國(guó)家對(duì)孩子產(chǎn)生影響的（不同）事物。
總部位于紐約的“芝麻街”工作室是一個(gè)非贏利性教育組織，它已經(jīng)派遣工作人員前往印度，和（當(dāng)?shù)氐模┙處?、廣播公司、政府部門(mén)以及非政府組織共同商討如何開(kāi)發(fā)這個(gè)節(jié)目的印度版本。
美國(guó)國(guó)際開(kāi)發(fā)署已經(jīng)向“芝麻街”工作室提供了50萬(wàn)美元的贊助金，用以開(kāi)發(fā)和設(shè)計(jì)該節(jié)目的印度版本。
“我們將設(shè)計(jì)出印度本土的提線木偶，它們將會(huì)吸引印度兒童，并成為他們所能夠理解的人物形象?！?
“芝麻街”工作室的發(fā)言人比阿特麗斯·周說(shuō)：“我們需要和當(dāng)?shù)氐膶?zhuān)家合作，探索這些人物的外表和性格。”
該節(jié)目印度版本的制片人有意創(chuàng)作能夠突出反映當(dāng)?shù)仄惹行枰鉀Q的問(wèn)題的人物角色。
“其中包括女孩子的受教育問(wèn)題、種族差異問(wèn)題以及健康衛(wèi)生問(wèn)題。所以印度版玩偶（體現(xiàn)的內(nèi)容）可能是多角度的，包括很多議題。”印度版節(jié)目的項(xiàng)目主管伊斯塔·甘古麗說(shuō)。
“芝麻街”的國(guó)際版本可以開(kāi)發(fā)各自的木偶來(lái)反映當(dāng)?shù)氐那闆r和問(wèn)題。
在埃及的版本中，木偶少女蔻卡哈想當(dāng)一名宇航員或醫(yī)生，成為女性的榜樣。
在這個(gè)著名兒童電視劇的南非版本中有一個(gè)HIV呈陽(yáng)性的角色，他的名字叫卡米，他鼓勵(lì)大家接受愛(ài)滋病毒攜帶者。
“它是我們最有實(shí)力的節(jié)目之一?！比鹫妗に髂嵴f(shuō)。他負(fù)責(zé)芝麻街在印度的播放網(wǎng)絡(luò)的市場(chǎng)開(kāi)發(fā)。
“很多學(xué)齡前兒童早早起床，為了能趕上早晨7點(diǎn)半的節(jié)目?！?/P>
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯）
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Updated: 2004-08-19 15:28
